The Forbidden Chapter Invented by Missionaries

Hello and greetings, and thank you for your question.

"The 'forbidden chapter' is not forbidden at all. You can find it in every Jewish Bible, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 53.

Christian missionaries use different marketing strategies to reach the Israeli audience. One of their marketing and deception methods is the claim that chapter 53 in the book of Isaiah describes Jesus... and supposedly the rabbis try to hide this chapter from the Bible.

I addressed this false claim in my article "Ten Facts Messianic Jews Don't Want Jews to Know":

https://www.hidabroot.org/he/article/78994

(Photo: Shutterstock)

In chapter 52, the prophet Isaiah speaks about the Babylonian exile and destruction, and in chapter 54, he describes Jerusalem metaphorically as a barren and poor woman. In chapter 53, Isaiah compares the people of Israel in exile to a righteous, tormented, and rejected person. It is important to note that nowhere in these chapters is the word "messiah" mentioned. In an effort to distort what is said in chapter 53 of the book of Isaiah, the Messianic Jews will present chapter 53 out of its original context between the chapters and claim that the metaphor of the "suffering righteous" in Isaiah's words is nothing but a prophecy about the crucified Jesus. Apart from the fact that the chapter was taken out of its original context in the book of Isaiah, according to their approach, it contradicts the belief in Jesus, as it is said in the metaphor that the righteous one will be "a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering" (verse 3), while Jesus was not sick or disabled suffering from pains, and it also says in the metaphor "he will see offspring, he will prolong his days, and the will of Hashem will prosper in his hand" (verse 10), while Jesus was crucified young and left no children behind. Furthermore, the parable tells that when they kill him, the righteous one will not say a word: "he was led like a lamb to the slaughter... and did not open his mouth" (verse 7), while the Christian story tells that when they seized Jesus, he shouted "Have you come out with swords and clubs to capture me" and when they crucified him he cried "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?". And if that is not enough, it is said about his burial place that he would be buried with the wicked (verse 9) while according to their story, Jesus was buried in the tomb of a righteous man from Arimathea. Besides this, one needs to know that during chapters 52 and 54, the prophet Isaiah speaks about exile and prophesies the redemption of the entire people of Israel by Hashem and their salvation from the nations of the world, a prophecy we are still awaiting to be fulfilled. What only proves to us, that the messiah has not yet come according to Isaiah. Anyone who reads the entire book of Isaiah in order will not be mistaken by this distortion invented by the Messianics.

Further reference to the claims of the Christians:

https://www.hidabroot.org/he/question/28919

https://www.hidabroot.org/he/question/29070

To strengthen one's faith with common sense, I recommend searching on Google for the words "fateful conversation" and reading a short booklet describing a dialogue with the Creator of the World on all questions of faith. Good luck!

Kind regards,

Daniel Bles